I remember Ann Goodpasture telling me that on their Canadian Rockies train trip, the fancy one, that there was serious overload of amazing sights, so much so that she became a little blase after a while. Not in this camp. The only problem is deciding what to show because I have very little time to blog. With that in mind, I'll show some highlights and perhaps, once we are home, I will fill in some gaps.
Let's get started, shall we?
It was mighty fun while it lasted, but the Pecks have flown away from Vancouver, albeit in the opposite direction of these birds, taken on our last night.
Our plan had been to leave on Monday, July 23, however, after thinking more about it, we decided to just get moving and leave on Sunday. This, while a good idea for getting the strip started, meant some changes in our route and overnight stays.
But, before we left, we met up with Beth, Zarita and Greg for our final dinner together in Vancouver. It seemed awfully significant that I'd chosen this place because, well frankly, if you've been reading for awhile, you know that the reason, more than anything, for agreeing to this move was because I wanted to live one year with defined seasons. My wish came true.
Time has flown since I plugged in my computer upon arrival at our hotel in Great Falls, Mt, leaving me with no real time to blog. So, without further ado, photographs with short caption. Deal?
Mt. Baker in Washington State dominates the landscape in Abbotsford, BC. One of many, many mountains to come.
Bridal Veil Falls off Highway One in BC. Gorgeous display, not well photographed with the bright sun!
Awesome sight on our way to Merritt, BC, a small town in British Columbia. There are a bunch of them and by that I mean small towns. Seriously
small population in BC, a huge land mass.
Our first Best Western experience and it was surprisingly excellent.
Many, many of the photographs taken are through either the windshield, or the side window. Thus, I'm including this funny shot that I was surprised to find when I downloaded the photos.
The thing is, there are very few places to even pull over, so I took what I could get!
Originally we had planned to stay in Kelowna, the city in the wine growing region of BC. Everyone told us we had to see it, however, we only passed through. The city borders the huge Lake Kelowna.
A recurring theme will be either mountains or water, in this case a beautiful lake adjacent to the highway outside of Kelowna.
I was very impressed with the above lake, and in this instance, B was even able to pull over. Well, although pretty, shortly thereafter, I was squealing with delight when this appeared on my side of the car. Nowhere to pull over, and I mean nowhere, so this will have to suffice.
Honestly, it was stunning and there was even another one! Our destination was Revelstoke, BC, a ski town on the banks of the Columbia River. But first we pulled over at this crazy roadside farmstand/attraction.
As well as the spot where they put in the last spike for the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
The river was fast moving and well, lovely with the vehicle and railroad bridge crossing it as you entered town.
I will tell you that there is a serious shortage of signage on Canada One. The ones we saw were tiny, thus it was easy to miss places, however, we did manage to stop for a few moments here. More water, eh?
Finally we were on our way to Banff and oh the sights we saw!
Fortunately the road construction had us at a stop, allowing me to actually compose this one, through the window, of course.
Have you ever seen what is called a Natural Bridge? I'd not before seeing it in the
Yoho National Park. The water color was a very pale shade of sage.
The rock is so interesting, I wish I had time for a close up. Alas, I don't because the fellow who took our money for the park entrance ($14), insisted we see a few things. We were glad for the tips. Emerald Lake was, well, pretty much there are no words for this kind of scenery.
Every bit as beautiful as we'd been told. The red canoes, brilliant! The falls he told us about are the third highest in Canada, reached by an insane road. BTW, although he is unaccustomed to this kind of driving, Mr. Peck was brilliant himself!
A switchback on the way down. I would have had a heart attack long before we'd reached this point. And I'm not kidding. Sweaty palms. that sort of things.
Back in the car, we continued on toward Lake Louise, a Banff must, or so we'd been told. Well friends, you see it through the trees and just know it's going to be something else.
The sun was shining crazy bright, and definitely in the wrong position for my photos, but the important thing is we saw it in person. Here is the best I could do.
What would a Camera Crazy post be without a shot of a bird. This one hung around B's feet without fear, before flying into the nearby tree.
By now, we'd been traveling for quite a long time and were glad that the town of Banff was not too much further down the highway. By now we were in Banff National Park where the mountains are no less striking than the ones in Yoho. Different, but awesome nonetheless.
Originally we'd planned on staying two nights in Banff, however, because we had already seen some pretty fantastic things, we decided to press on this morning. Had we not been on such a huge trip, no doubt there is much, much more to see in Banff National Park. As we left on our way to Calgary, the Three Sisters Mountains were some of the last we saw.
And just like that, we were out of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. What we saw of Alberta was, although not mountainous, lovely in a different way.
Beautiful fields of canola alongside the highway as seen from 80 miles an hour!
Woo hoo...
a super easy border crossing and we are back in the USA!
Not much to tell you so far about Montana, as what we've seen so far has been not all that interesting. Give me a day or two to get over the mountain experience and I'll be loving everything I see once again.
Heading into Montana today. What day is it anyway?
your friend,
Gail
p.s. No time for editing as I need to dry my hair before bedtime.
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